VitiCanopy to measure vine pruning mass and assess above ground vineyard carbon storage

Abstract

The wine industry is increasingly focused on carbon accounting due to consumer’s demand and the industry’s goal of reducing carbon emissions. Vineyards exhibit a greater amount of carbon fixation per unit area relative to annual crops and most of the carbon stored within a vine is located in perennial organs like canes, cordons, trunks, and roots.

Dry matter production reflects a vineyard’s performance and can be used to estimate carbon storage and hence inform vineyard management decisions.

This study used VitiCanopy to assess the pruning mass of dormant vines as a way to estimate above-ground dry matter production. In 2020 and 2021images of vines before and after pruning and measures of the pruning mass of each vine were taken and analysed using VitiCanopy. The coefficients of determination of the relationships between the values obtained with VitiCanopy and the measured pruning weight for the four vineyards were all above 0.93, to confirm that VitiCanopy can be used to measure vineyard pruning mass.

Combining VitiCanopy measurements of plant area index during the growing season and pruning mass during dormancy could allow for accurate estimations of above-ground biomass production for individual vines or entire vineyards, bringing viticultural landscapes closer to accurate carbon accounting. This technique could also help researchers build models to determine how vineyard carbon storage is affected by vine age, variety, management, and location.